Care of Nails and Skin on Shabbos

Cutting Nails

Due to the melacha of ‘gozez’, shearing (which involves detaching things attached to the body of an animal or person), it is prohibited to cut nails on Shabbos. It is a Torah prohibition to do so with an implement such as scissors and a Rabbinic prohibition to do so by hand or with one’s teeth (SA 340:1, MB 2, SSK 14:60).
If majority already detached: If the majority of the nail has already become detached, removing the rest of the nail is forbidden Rabbinically.
- In cases when this nail is causing distress, they permitted one to detach the rest of it by hand or with one’s teeth, but not with an implement (SA 328:31, SSK 14:60).
Mikvah: a woman who is planning to go to mikvah on Friday night and forgot to cut her nails before Shabbos may not cut her nails on Shabbos. Where feasible, she should ask a non-Jew to cut the nails on her hands (where possible, without an implement, otherwise an implement may be used), else she should rely on cleaning thoroughly behind the fingernails (taking care not to scrape off any of the nail). In relation to her toenails, it is preferable to clean them than have a non-Jew cut them. Given there is significant dispute about this in the poskim, it is advisable to consult a Rav in such a case for clear guidance (MB 340:3, BH”L 340:1 D”H Chayav, SSK 14:61).

One may clean the dirt out from behind one’s fingernails on Shabbos, so long as one is careful not to scrape off any of the nail (SSK 14:62).

Under the melacha of ‘gozez’ it is also forbidden on Shabbos to detach skin which is peeling off from the body, such as next to the fingernail (‘hangnails’) or on one’s lips, whether by hand, with one’s teeth or with an implement. It may even be a Torah prohibition to detach it from one’s lips by hand, given this is the normal way of doing so.
Mostly detached: In cases of hanging skin, it is forbidden to detach it even if it has already mostly detached. (SA 328:31, 340:2, BH”L Yabeles, SSK 14:60).

It is similarly forbidden to remove warts from one’s body on Shabbos due to gozez (SA 340:2).

Likewise one may not remove dry skin from the body on Shabbos due to gozez (MB 340:6, SSK 35:33).

Scabs may be removed on Shabbos if one believes this will not inevitably lead the wound to re-start bleeding. As the scab will naturally fall off over time, it is not forbidden to remove it due to gozez (SA 328:22, SSK 35:32)